TOWN TALK

January 31, 2026

A special message from Town Manager Heidi Siegel

Have You Heard About the Proposal to Eliminate Property Taxes?

Dear Residents,

Jupiter Inlet Colony, along with 410 other cities, towns, and villages across Florida, have been actively monitoring the Florida Legislature’s property tax reform proposals. Nothing is final, but certain things are coming into focus. During the next month, I will continue to share information on how you can have your voices heard in Tallahassee from the comfort of your own home. 

While this notion was promoted first by Governor DeSantis a year ago, to date he has not provided the House and Senate with his proposal on how to “eliminate all property taxes” in Florida. We do not know how a drastic drop in property tax dollars would be replenished. What we do know is that we will be expected to do more with less.

Technically, there are more than a dozen widely disparate proposals that would decrease the Town’s ad valorem operating revenue. A handful of these are proposed Constitutional amendments moving in the process. These are what many of you have seen in the media the most often. The media are currently focused on what you would vote for or against on the November 2026 ballot. Constitutional amendments put forward by the Legislature are called Joint Resolutions. Any Joint Resolution that passes both the House and the Senate goes straight to the ballot—these would not require or need the Governor’s signature or formal involvement. At this time, the Florida Senate has yet to present any interest in taking up any of the current House proposals, which is rather significant. (That does not mean “horse-trading” won’t go on later.)

In Jupiter Inlet Colony, 81% of our $4.7 million budget is from ad valorem property taxes. The remaining $900,000 comes from building permit revenues, grants, and miscellaneous fees. All of the Joint Resolutions require current funding levels of all public safety to be maintained. Without other property tax revenue, this would be unachievable in Jupiter Inlet Colony, since our police and fire budget exceeds $1.2 million this current fiscal year.   

JUPITER INLET COLONY’S AD VALOREM PROPERTY TAX SNAPSHOT

• Only 30 cents of each $1 on a property tax bill for any Jupiter Inlet Colony property owner (see graphic above) actually "stays" in the Town. The remaining 70 cents heads to Palm Beach County, the School District, and elsewhere.

• The Town's total operating budget is $4.7 million.

• The ad valorem revenue portion of that is $3.8 million.

•  81% of the Town's budget is currently dependent on property taxes.

• Over half (164) of all Town parcels (244) have homestead exemption. Right now, homestead is a central focus of the Legislature.

• Caveat: If homestead exemptions start becoming the "incentive" category for Floridians to save more money on their property taxes, then we could have many more Town residents suddenly claim homestead. This situation, all by itself, would mean less ad valorem to the Town in outlying years, regardless of what else the Legislature does. 

Earlier this month, Commissioner Dave Shula and I traveled to Tallahassee and met with legislators to share the unique nature of our Town budget. 

Next week, I will share specific actions in Tallahassee and precisely what you can do to help. Should you wish to learn more or discuss further, please stop me on the street, visit me at Town Hall, call me at (561) 746-3787 ext. 5, or email me at: siegelh@jupiterinletcolony.gov. 

Warm Regards,

Heidi Siegel

Town Manager

Watch this space next weekend for our next installment in this series!